MANILA, Philippines – Enlisted military personnel who are members of the national team seeing action in the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in November can now start training.
This after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recently approved the detailed services (DS) of 129 of its personnel who are either national team athletes or coaches to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
But because the facilities where they are supposed to train or housed — the Rizal Memorial Complex in Manila and PhilSports Complex in Pasig — are still being used as COVID-19 centers and has remained unavailable, the PSC was left with no choice but to delegate the responsibility to their respective national sports associations (NSAs).
“Detailed din sila sa NSAs,” said PSC commissioner and SEA Games chef-de-mission Ramon Fernandez.
It is the reason Fernandez had sounded the call for help from potential godfathers of different local government units (LGUs) weeks ago since the PSC could not do it on its own amid the pandemic.
Already, Tagaytay, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Taguig and Pangasinan have already offered to host some athletes and NSAs while fencing (Ormoc) and archery (Dumaguete) have already held their own training.
The PSC’s newly refurbished facilities at the Teacher’s Camp in Baguio could also be tapped as a possible training venue for a number of NSAs.
Fernandez said they have targeted July 1 as start of the SEA Games training.